8. The 'Gay Batman and Robin' Rumor' Came From a Psychologist Bent on Destroying Comics -- Things You Didn't Know About Batman

Any pop culture property that involves two men or women living together for an extended period of time seems to automatically attract theories about a homosexual relationship. The questions about the Dynamic Duo’s “questionable” relationship actually date back to one man: Dr. Fredric Wertham.

In the 1950s, the psychologist was to comic books what Jack Thompson is to video games. Wertham led a massive crusade to regulate and outright ban horror, crime and adventure comic books by publishing 'Seduction of the Innocent,’ a scathing “scientific” review of these titles and the effect they had on juvenile delinquency and indecency. The book led to a Congressional inquiry on the comic book industry and the formation of the Comics Code ratings system, regulations which ran many publishers out of business.

Wertham claimed that the Dynamic Duo were secretly homosexuals because of the therapy work he did in his New York clinic with “sexually maladjusted individuals” who often read 'Batman' comics and expressed sexual and romantic feelings towards The Caped Crusader. He was led to believe that Batman and Robin’s relationship exhibited some kind of “adolescent-with-adult or Ganymede/Zeus type of love relationship.”